IBSA-HS: Achieving Sustainable Urban Development through Integrated Housing Policies in India, Brazil and South Africa

IBSA-HS is a trilateral agreement between India, Brazil and South Africa to promote South-South cooperation and exchange on several mutually agreed upon areas of interest within the housing and human settlements (HS) sector.

This networking event aims to discuss current approaches with regards to housing and settlement policies and implementation, what works what does not in the context of urban development in India, Brazil, and South Africa, and their impact on urban sustainability. This event will contribute to strengthening partnership between the three countries on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the achievement of the SDGs through development of Integrated Housing Policies.

The programme of this meeting follows an agreement made in HABITAT III which discussed the status of IBSA-HS collaborative activities and the way forward. The next event planned for 2018 is an international conference that will take place in South Africa. The networking event is an important step for the cooperation activities as it will help in the prioritization of the themes to be addressed during the conference and the identification of research activities that will start in 2018.

The event is comprised of two parts.

1. In the first part, the three countries will focus on the key policies in each of the countries with regard to housing, slum up-gradation and resettlement in order to develop sustainable solutions for human settlements in the context of growing urbanization, what works and what does not in terms of housing policies and implementation, and what are the new developments with regards to improving access to affordable housing.

2. In the second part, a roundtable with academics from knowledge/anchor institutes of each country will explore and discuss areas and issues of mutual interest for possible collaboration and determine the research agenda as well as other IBSA-HS activities for 2018. The findings will be presented during the international conference later in 2018.